ANSA carried an article on Israel's response to the report of the Synod for the Middle East.
After a pause for reflection by more than 24 hours, Israel has strongly denounced tonight's' attacks policy "against it - conducted" in the sign of the best tradition of Arab propaganda "- launched by the Synod for the Middle East, has just ended at the Vatican. In a statement by the peremptory tone Dany Ayalon deputy foreign minister has expressed "disappointment" for the final declaration of the synod of bishops accused of having been taken "hostage of a majority anti-Israeli"
providing "a forum for political attacks' against
the State of Israel. In his remarks were set against those of the PLO now has expressed deep satisfaction with the views expressed by the Synod. Ayalon also said he was "shocked" by the emergence of the Melkite bishop of Boston Cyril Salim Bustros
(not included in official documents of the Synod) that Israel
rifarebbe the biblical concept of the Promised Land
to justify the territorial rights of Jews and "
expel the Palestinians." Words from which the Israeli foreign ministry has asked the Holy See of "distance" explaining how similar tones "do not represent the official position of the Vatican." Israeli press on the work of the Synod did not have a particular echo. The newspaper that gave greater prominence to the event was Makor Rishon, a newspaper with little spread near the Jewish religious nationalism. The English-language daily Jerusalem Post reported statements by its ambassador Israel in the Holy See, Mordechai Levi that the expressions of the Archbishop Bustros "represent a step backwards compared to the Second Vatican Council." Speaking instead in total harmony with the views expressed in the Synod, the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that "Israel can not make use of concepts related to the biblical Promised Land or the chosen people then to justify territorial claims in Jerusalem or in the Territories." The document expressed by the Synod, according to Erekat, said that "Israel can not claim Jerusalem as the only Israeli city." "But Israeli governments - has replicated the Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor - have never used the Bible "to justify the occupation or control of any territory, including East Jerusalem (the Arab majority in the Holy City, whose annexation to Israel is not recognized by the international community). Palmor then rejected as "unfair and prejudicial" rhetoric echoed by some bishops (mostly Arabs) present at the Synod. About the status of Jerusalem positions remain far apart. "Our vision - has developed the Palestinian spokesmen - is a shared open city, the capital of two states and three faiths, while the Israeli vision is an exclusively Jewish city." Just today, the Israeli government, regardless of the controversy the Synod has approved in general a package of incentives and investments to strengthen the Israeli presence in the city. "This is a clear message - said a minister in the Likud - that Jerusalem will never be divided and that within it there will be no other than that Israeli sovereignty." According to an Israeli Arab MP, Taleb a-Sana, such positions are likely now to "put an end to hopes for peace in the region.
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